Priest of Lathander/Mage advice

Joya

Hi, i'm new to this forum, but not to the BG:EE series. I'm going to start a new SoA/ToB run with a Priest of Lathander (11) dualed Mage. I think it could be a really fun combo and definitely want to try it.
I need some advice about stat points distribution, considering i will add points like I used Tomes in BG.

STR 18
DEX 18
CON 15
INT 18
WIS 18
CHA 8

Rolling these stats will be quite impossible (95). I could lower INT by 1, DEX by 1 and STR by 2-3. What do you think?

Jarrakul

Honestly, as a cleric/mage, I wouldn't worry too much about strength. You're going to be primarily a caster, and a few of the mid-high-level cleric buffs set your strength to 18/00 anyway. If you use ranged weapons, the entire difference between a 10 strength and 18 strength is +2 damage, which probably isn't worth the extra hour of rolling. You'll mainly want strength for armor, but in BG1 you can use ankheg plate with an 8 strength, and in BG2 you'll mostly be wearing robes. If push comes to shove, you could also lower Wisdom and rely on the three Wisdom tomes, but that would prevent you from getting a really ridiculously high Wisdom in BG2, and I don't really think it's necessary.

So maybe something like this (plus tomes):
Str 11 (+1)
Dex 18 (+1)
Con 15 (+1)
Int 17 (+1)
Wis 18 (+3)
Cha 8 (+1)

That's 87 points, which is vastly more feasible. Thoughts?

Fregasega

I was thinking about sending him melee sometimes with all those buffs and Boon ability. That's why I was concerned about STR. Anyway there are many STR boosting items right?

Jarrakul

There are a lot of strength-boosting items in BG2. In BG1, there's only one (well, two if you do Rasaad's quest), and it's relatively late in the game. Even so, you can tank perfectly well as a cleric without strength, and frankly it's hard to do a lot of damage as a cleric unless you can get your strength to 19. Obviously strength would be beneficial, but I'd say it's pretty low priority in general.

Joya

I've just rolled an 89 and created it:
STR 12
DEX 18
CON 15
INT 18
WIS 18
CHA 8

Let's see how he works

semiticgoddess

I've played a Cleric of Lathander/Mage in a no-reload run not too long ago, and I dual-classed the cleric at level 11. Level 11 grants you an extra casting of Boon of Lathander. It's one level short of getting a 6th-level cleric spell, but there's a huge XP gap between level 11 and 12, so it'd take a much longer time to recover your cleric levels to acquire that one casting of Heal, Harm, or Wondrous Recall.

Cleric of Lathander/Mages can do a lot of damage with cleric buffs while shapeshifted. Holy Power and DUHM go great with spider form, and Righteous Magic and Boon of Lathander are fantastic with Iron Golem form. Armor of Faith also stacks with the Iron Golem's base 20% physical damage resistance.

Fregasega

semiticgod said:

I've played a Cleric of Lathander/Mage in a no-reload run not too long ago, and I dual-classed the cleric at level 11. Level 11 grants you an extra casting of Boon of Lathander. It's one level short of getting a 6th-level cleric spell, but there's a huge XP gap between level 11 and 12, so it'd take a much longer time to recover your cleric levels to acquire that one casting of Heal, Harm, or Wondrous Recall.

Cleric of Lathander/Mages can do a lot of damage with cleric buffs while shapeshifted. Holy Power and DUHM go great with spider form, and Righteous Magic and Boon of Lathander are fantastic with Iron Golem form. Armor of Faith also stacks with the Iron Golem's base 20% physical damage resistance.

Wait, clerics should be able to cast 1 6th level spell at 11, don't they?

elminster

Yes

semiticgoddess

Ah yes, just one.